USA > Pennsylvania > A history of the Juniata Valley and its people, Volume I > Part 39
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Calvin greene
THE WORD
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hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and from 1890 to 1893 operated a tannery, which they built at Salem, Roanoke county, Virginia. Of this company Mr. Greene was a director until 1893, when he sold his interest. He now had his capital unemployed, and desiring to concentrate it, pur- chased in 1893 the entire stock of the Saltillo Tannery, with its real estate, plant, and all pertaining thereto, and at once reorganized it as Calvin Greene & Son, taking in his son, Edward M. Greene, as partner. In 1895 he purchased the plant of the North American Tannery Com- pany at Lewistown and, leaving his son as manager of Saltillo plant, he moved his residence to Lewistown, and gave his attention to the tan- nery there. This plant, which he had formerly owned as a partner of Leas, McVitty & Greene, was substantially erected, the building of brick, with a good equipment for the manufacture of heavy sole leather, and during his management produced annually 1,225,000 pounds of chestnut and oak bark tanned sole leather. The capacity of Saltillo plant being seven hundred and eighty-two thousand pounds of the same quality and style of leather. In 1902 Mr. Greene disposed of the North American Tannery by sale to George H. Maxwell, of Titusville, Penn- sylvania. The Satillo Tannery was continued in operation until 1911, when the raw stock on hand was tanned and the plant closed, although still owned by Calvin Greene. Although practically retired from the tanning business, and entirely so from active management, he yet re- tains an interest in the Mount Union Tanning & Extract Company, at Mount Union, Pennsylvania. The company employs about one hundred men and operates two distinct plants, one tanning hides imported from South America, Mexico, Africa and China, producing 3,500,000 pounds of leather annually from seventy-five thousand hides; the other plant manufacturing a tanning extract from chestnut wood and bark, also from the marabolams nut, valonia and mangrove bark. This plant pro- duces annually fifteen thousand barrels of tanning extracts, which are shipped to all leather tanning centers of the United States and Canada.
He is also a director in the Mann Edge Tool Company, an incor- porated company with a capital of two hundred and fifty thousand dol- lars, operating a plant at Lewistown and another at Mill Hall, Penn- sylvania. In 1893 Mr. Greene assisted in organizing the Union National Bank at Huntingdon and served as a director until prior to his removal to Lewistown, when he resigned, but still retains his interest as a stock-
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holder. In 1906 Mr. Greene and his son Edward, with others, organized the Lewistown Trust Company, of which he was elected the first presi- dent. He continued in this responsible position until 1911, when he resigned, but retains a large stockholder's interest. He has a lively interest in the prosperity of his adopted town, of which he has been a valued citizen for over seventeen years (1913), and an active mem- ber of its board of trade, serving on the executive committee. Always devoted to the cause of education, he served for many years as trustee of Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, but in 1909 resigned, not through lack of interest, but feeling that younger shoulders should bear the burden. Mr. Greene's only business interests, outside his own state, have been in Texas, a state in which he has great faith. In 1904 he was one of the organizers, subsequently director and treasurer, of the Belton & Temple Traction Company, operating in Bell county, Texas, between the towns of Belton and Temple. This company, a successful one, and bonded for $2,000,000, was operated by the original company until 1911, when they sold to another company. Another Texas enter- prise in which both Mr. and Mrs. Greene are deeply interested, and of which he is president and treasurer, is the Pennsylvania Land and Irri- gation Company, with offices in Lewistown. This company owns 1,736 acres in Hidalgo county, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley, which is to be divided into small tracts and sold as fruit and produce farms.
In political faith Mr. Greene is a Republican, holding many offices when residing in Saltillo, and serving three years as councilman in Lewistown. In religious belief he is a Baptist, is trustee and a deacon of the Lewistown congregation, also is one of the board of directors of the Pennsylvania State Baptist Missionary Society. Both his wife and family are communicants of the Baptist church.
Calvin Greene married, December 24, 1869, Amanda J., daughter of Samuel and Esther (Mckinstry) McVitty, and maternal granddaughter of Rodney and Margaret (McCammon) Mckinstry, he was born in county Antrim, Ireland. Children of Rodney Mckinstry : John, Samuel, Alexander, Elliott, James and Esther. Samuel McVitty, a wealthy tan- ner of Saltillo (as described), died March 14, 1891, aged seventy-six years. His wife, Esther, survived him until December 29, 1893. Chil- dren: Emeline, deceased, married Richard W. Hudson; Thomas Ed- ward, married Phœbe Quimby; Mary Ellen, drowned at the age of
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eighteen months; John, died in childhood; Amanda J., of previous men- tion; Alice Belle, deceased, married Dr. W. S. Madden.
Children of Calvin and Amanda J. Greene; I. Edward McVitty, educated at Bucknell University, junior member of Calvin Greene & Son, now president and manager of the Mount Union Tanning & Extract Company, previously described, of Mount Union, Pennsylvania. He married Carrie Wittemeyer, of Middleburg, Pennsylvania, and has sons, Edward and Waldo. 2. Nora May, graduate of Bucknell Insti- tute, second vice-president of the Lewistown Hospital Association and an active worker for church and charity. She resides with her parents. 3. Ida Gertrude, graduate of Bucknell Institute, married G. K. Watson, and resides in Mercedes, Hidalgo county, Texas, in the Valley of the Rio Grande. 4. Esther McKinstry, educated at Bucknell Institute, mar- ried Hugh Hamilton and resides in Hope, Arkansas; children : Hugh, John and Raymond. 5. Raymond, graduate of Bucknell University, class of 1902; member of Phi Kappa Psi, and of lodge, chapter and com- mandery of the Masonic order. He is now secretary and treasurer of the Mount Union Tanning & Extract Company. 6. Mary, born July 17, 1883, died August 1, 1883.
The family residence of the Greenes is on Third street, Lewistown, near the Presbyterian church, and is a beautiful brick mansion erected by Calvin Greene in 1900. This record of a busy life would be incom- plete, did it fail to note the high esteem in which Mr. Greene is held in his community. His long life has been spent in the full blaze of pub- licity, in two communities, and from the almost penniless young man of 1870, he has risen through honorable effort to affluence and a high posi- tion in the business world. His name is a synonym for uprightness and his character has proved, in its maturity, the promise of his youth. His friends are legion, and in this, the autumn of his life, should he care to cast a retrospective glance over the past half century of his career, the review can give him naught but satisfaction. His life has been a well- spent one and the success he has attained is fully deserved.
HARSHBERGER This family, a noted one in the medical history of the Juniata Valley, descends from a German ancestry. The founder, a farmer, settled in Pot- ter township, Center county, at an early date, leaving a large family,
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many of the name yet living in the same locality or near where their ancestor first settled.
(I) John Harshberger was born in Germany and came to the United States in the latter half of the eighteenth century. He became a farmer of Penns Valley, Center county, Pennsylvania, his farm lying in Potter township. There he lived until death honored and respected. He mar- ried and two of his sons, Abraham and Henry, became eminent physi- cians of Juniata and Mifflin counties. The latter, born February 18, 1818, studied with his brother, Dr. Abraham, obtained his degree from Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, and practised at McAllister- ville, Pennsylvania, dying there January 28, 1883.
(II) Dr. Abraham Harshberger, son of John Harshberger, was born in Penns Valley, Center county, Pennsylvania, December 12, 1810, died in Milroy, Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, in 1893. He obtained a good preparatory education, read medicine with Dr. T. A. Worrall and Dr. William I. Wilson, of Potters Mills, in Lewistown, 1841 and 1842, and then entered Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia, whence he was graduated M. D., class of 1844. He married, and established in practice in McAllisterville, Juniata county, Pennsylvania, remaining until 1855. when he moved to Port Royal in the same county. Here he practised until September, 1861, then gave up all his plans and ambitions to enter the service of his country. He enlisted in 1862 and was elected captain of Company I, 49th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He did not accompany his regiment to the front, but deciding he could be of greater usefulness as a physician than as a soldier, he was commis- sioned assistant surgeon of the 124th Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry, August 2, 1862, was promoted surgeon December 5, 1862, transferred to the 166th Pennsylvania Regiment, and November 9, 1863, to the 149th Regiment, serving with the latter regiment until the war closed, being mustered out June 24, 1865. His regiments were a part of the Army of the Potomac and the doctor was under fire at Antietam, Hatcher's Run, Wilderness, Stony Creek Station, Petersburg, Weldon Railroad, Yellow Tavern and other engagements. After the war Dr. Harshberger returned to his home in Juniata county, but his three years of absence had given other physicians the field and on September 4, 1865, he moved to Milroy, Mifflin county, and there continued in active, successful prac- tise until his death in 1893.
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Dr. Harshberger was a learned, successful physician and stood high in the medical fraternity. He was a member of the American Medical, Pennsylvania State Medical and Mifflin County Medical societies and kept pace with all medical thought and discovery, while his army ex- perience had given him a skill in surgery unequalled in the county. He was a member of the Presbyterian church, and with his wife, ren- dered useful Christian service. While a member of both the Masonic and Odd Fellow fraternities, his humanities extended to all men and his charity was not bounded by lodge or church lines. In politics he was a Republican, but he never accepted public office, his profession being to him all-in-all.
He married in Penns Valley, Mary Ann McCoy, born there about 1822, died in Milroy, Mifflin county, in 1881, daughter of Alexander and Mary (McDowell) McCoy, both born in Ireland, but married in Center county, Pennsylvania. They settled on a farm in Center county, which they owned and cultivated until death. Their children were: John, Frank, Mary Ann, Margaret and Hannah, the latter the wife of Henry H. Van Dyke. Children of Dr. Abraham Harshberger: I. Frances E., married Rev. John Butler, a missionary to China, both de- ceased. 2. Alexander Samuel, of whom further. 3. John, died aged four years. 4. Mary, died aged four years. 5. Annie C., died aged twenty years, unmarried. 6. Frank McCoy, a graduate lawyer, now engaged in the legal department of the Northern Pacific railroad, located at Ta- coma, Washington.
(III) Dr. Alexander Samuel Harshiberger, son of Dr. Abraham and Mary Ann (McCoy) Harshberger, was born at McAllisterville, Penn- sylvania, January 6, 1850. He was educated at Airy View Academy, Port Royal, Pennsylvania, a graduate of the class of 1867, after which he read medicine with his father until March, 1869, when he entered the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, whence he was graduated M. D., class of 1870. For the first thirteen years of his professional life he practised in association with his honored father, Dr. Abraham Harshberger, gaining in actual sick-room practise and by asso- ciation with the veteran army surgeon a most valuable experience. In August, 1884, he moved to Lewistown, Pennsylvania, where he is firmly established in successful general medical and surgical practise. He is surgeon-in-chief and president of the board of directors of Lewistown
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Hospital, a position he has most capably filled ever since its erection in 1907. He is a member of the American Medical, the Pennsylvania State and Mifflin County Medical societies, and also contributes occasional articles to the medical journals, treating of special or unusual cases that occur in his practice. For fifteen years he has been surgeon to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company; has served on the state and local boards of health and in private practise is the oldest physician in Lewis- town.
He has business interests outside his profession, including a direc- torship in the Mann Edge Tool Company. In political belief he is a Republican and for sixteen years has served his borough as school director. He is a member of Lodge No. 203, Free and Accepted Ma- sons; Chapter No. 186, Royal Arch Masons; Commandery No. 26, Knights Templar; and Lodge No. 97, Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows and belongs to the beneficial order, Royal Arcanum. In religious faith he is a Presbyterian.
Dr. Harshberger married, December 27, 1872, Mary Elizabethı Brown, born in Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, daughter of James M. Brown. Child: Annie G., born December 24, 1879, was educated in Lewistown public schools and is a graduate of Swarthmore Preparatory School. She married William W. Cunningham, who is cashier of the Citizen's National Bank of Lewistown, Pennsylvania, and they have a son, Alexander Samuel Cunningham.
The Mitchells of this record descend from Henry MITCHELL Mitchell, of Marsden Lane, Lancastershire, England, a carpenter by trade, who married Elizabeth Foulds. 3rd mo., 6th, 1675. Both were members of the Society of Friends, and he was imprisoned for his religious conviction in 1685. On 12th mo., 16, 1699, Marsden monthly meeting gave a certificate to Henry Mitchell, wife and four children. They sailed on the "Britannica" for Pennsyl- vania and after a voyage of fourteen weeks arrived in the Delaware, August 25, 1699. The vessel was overcrowded and there was a great deal of sickness on board, fifty-six dying at sea and twenty after landing. Henry Mitchell being among the latter. The widow and children settled near the head of tide-water on Neshaminy, and Middletown, Bucks county, may be considered the family home. The mother, Elizabeth,
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died two weeks later on September 10. The children were taken under the care of the Middletown Meeting and found good homes.
(II) Henry (2), son of Henry (1) Mitchell, was born at Marsden Lane, Lancastershire, England, October 17, 1680, died in Bristol, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, in 1726. He was a carpenter by trade, becoming a land and mill owner. He married Sarah, daughter of Richard Gove, of Philadelphia.
(III) John, son of Henry (2) Mitchell, was born March 10, 17II, died April 31, 1789. He learned the carpenter's trade, but later became a farmer. He married, December 19, 1738, Margaret Stackhouse.
(IV) Henry (3), son of John Mitchell, was born in 1750. He married and settled in the Buffalo Valley of Pennsylvania, where he engaged in farming.
(V) Henry (4), son of Henry (3) Mitchell, was born about 1790, in New Berlin, Pennsylvania, where he grew to manhood. Later he moved to Beaver Springs, where he followed his trade of tinsmith many years, and there died. Both he and his wife were members of the English Lutheran church. He married Sarah Edmonds. Children: I. Sarah, married William Shafer and died in Nebraska. 2. Edward, of whom further. 3. Allen, died in Nebraska, a wagon maker and general merchant. 4. Caroline, married Jerry Hackenberry, of Beaver Spring.
(VI) Edward, eldest son of Henry (4) Mitchell, was born in 1832 in Snyder county, Pennsylvania, died in Lewistown, Pennsylvania. He learned the blacksmith's trade, which he followed until the civil war, when he enlisted and served as corporal in Company I, One Hundred and Sixty-fourth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He saw hard service with the Army of the Potomac and fought in several of the bloody battles of the war. After the war he followed his trade at Beaver Springs, then settled at Middle Creek, where he lived for thirty years, spending his last days at Lewistown, with his daughter, Mrs. T. A. Ew- ing. He was a Republican and both he and his wife were members of the Lutheran church. He married (first) Mary Dreese, and had: Ada, married Joseph Shirk, of Beaver Springs; Lizzie, married William H. Hartley, of McClure, Snyder county, Pennsylvania. He married ( sec- ond) Hettie Fetterolf, born in Snyder county in 1834, who survives him, a resident of Lewistown with her daughter, Mrs. Ewing. She is
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a daughter of Andrew Fetterolf, born in Snyder county, where he died in 1880, a blacksmith and farmer, owning a good farm. James William, mentioned below, is a child of Mr. Mitchel by his second marriage.
(VII) Dr. James William Mitchell, son of Edward and Hettie (Fet- terolf) Mitchell, was born at Middle Creek, Pennsylvania, August 10, 1870. He attended the public schools until he was sixteen years of age, then began business life as clerk in a country store, continuing there six years. He then located in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where he en- gaged in the grocery business on his own account, continuing three years. He then decided upon the profession of medicine and in 1895 entered Medico-Chirurgical College of Medicine in Philadelphia, whence he was graduated M. D., class of 1898. He at once began practise, lo- cating at McClure, Snyder county, where he remained ten years. In 1908 he located in Lewistown, where he is well established in general practise, although a specialist in X-ray operations and electrical thera- peutics. He has been for the past four years a member of the staff of Lewistown Hospital, and is a member of both Pennsylvania State and Mifflin County Medical societies. He is a member of the Masonic order, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; Sons of Veterans and the Loyal Order of Moose. In political preference he is a Republican. While living at McClure he was active in municipal improvement, pro- moting and organizing the Water Works Company and erecting an elec- tric light plant of which he was also the owner.
Dr. Mitchell married, April 12, 1893, Minnie C. Knepp, born in Lewistown, daughter of Edward Knepp. Child, Mary, born in McClure, Pennsylvania, May 1, 1900.
McCOY The McCoys of Lewistown, Pennsylvania, herein recorded, are of Scotch-Irish descent, the emigrant ancestor settling in Bucks county, where Samuel H. McCoy, his son, was born. After the death of his father, Samuel H., although but a boy, left Bucks and settled in Mifflin county, where he married and founded the family of whom we write. His home was in Granville township, where he owned several farms and was a man of prominence. He mar- ried Rachel Anderson, who became the mother of his five children: Frank I., of whom further; Charles Howard, now in business in the state of Washington; Anna, now living in Lewistown, unmarried; Wil-
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liam T., now living on the old McCoy homestead; Edward, residing in Lewistown.
(III) Frank I., eldest son of Samuel H. McCoy, was born in Gran- ville township, Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, January 16, 1847, and died there February 26, 1907. He grew to manhood at the home farm, later purchasing one of the farms owned by his father and there residing until his death. He was a Republican in politics and held several town- ship offices. Both he and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal church, she still continuing a faithful member. He married, November 23, 1871, Mary Penepacker, born in Mifflin county, January 13, 1847, who survives him, a resident of Lewistown. She is a daugh- ter of Elias Penepacker, born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, coming when young to Mifflin county and locating in Lewistown. He was principal of the public school, then composed of three grades. Later he moved to Granville township, where he also taught school and was jus- tice of the peace and assessor. He afterward moved to Vira, where he was a merchant and postmaster. He owned a large farm in Wayne township and a smaller one at Vira. He married Nancy Davis, who bore him nine children: Benjamin, died in the Union army; Rev. George Davis, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church; Jennie, married William Bobb and resides in Washington, D. C.,; Mary, widow of Frank I. McCoy ; Etta, married Gustavus M. Rehse and resides in Philadelphia ; Laura, married Thomas Brown, whom she survives, a resident of Lewis- town; Samuel S., now in the insurance business at Wheeling, West Vir- ginia; Gertrude, married R. M. Lowrie, deceased; John J., a teacher and county superintendent in the state of Washington. Children of Frank I. and Mary McCoy: I. Harry Hurlburt, now a machinist with the Standard Steel Company, residing in Lewistown. 2. Dr. Charles Milton, of whom further. 3. Carrie I., married M. B. Rehse and resides in New York City.
(IV) Charles Milton McCoy, M. D., son of Frank I. and Mary (Penepacker) McCoy, was born near Lewistown, Pennsylvania, in the village of Granville, April 8, 1874. He attended the public schools, later entering Millersville State Normal, whence he was graduated in the class of 1898. He taught in the public schools for five years, then deciding upon a different profession, entered Hahneman Medical College at Phila- delphia. He pursued a full course of study there, and was graduated
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M. D., in the class of 1904. He located in Lewistown, where he is well established as a skilful, honorable practitioner. He is a member of the medical staff of Lewistown Hospital; the American Institute of Home- opathy and the Pennsylvania State Homeopathic Society. Dr. McCoy is a member of the Masonic order, a Republican in politics and a commun- icant of the Methodist Episcopal church.
WEBER The founder of this branch of the Weber family in Amer- ica was Christian Weber, who with his wife, Applonia, came from Holland, landing at Philadelphia September 27, 1727. His first land purchase was a tract of fifty-five acres, in what is now Montgomery county, on which in 1737 he built a stone house, still in existence. Here he lived the remainder of his life, making his will May 4, 1776, his death occurring in 1778, at the age of eighty-two years, fifty-one years having been spent in Pennsylvania. His wife died in 1775. They were both members of the Reformed church, and were buried in the cemetery at North Wales, Montgomery county, Pa. They had five sons, who left a numerous posterity, not only in Montgomery county, but in adjoining counties, and in far away states. Jacob, the eldest son, left three sons, Abraham, Benjamin and Isaac. Nicholas, an- other son, married an English Quakeress, and left issue. Benjamin, an- other son of the emigrant, left daughters, who intermarried with the Zearfoss and Shearer families of Montgomery county. Christian (2), youngest son of Christian ( I) Weber, the emigrant, was a man of great force of character and business ability. He was devotedly attached to the colonial cause and, in 1778, he recruited and was captain of a com- pany of one hundred, whom he led to battle with the revolutionary army. Many years later he was appointed by Governor Mifflin, justice of the peace, and also in 1800, served as county commissioner. He had sons, John and Jesse, both of whom seem to have inherited their father's abil- ity and capacity for politics and public affairs. From this ancestry sprang William H., father of Sylvester B. Weber, of Lewistown, Penn- sylvania.
(I) William H. Weber was born in Montgomery county, Pennsylva- nia, and was there educated and married. He became a wholesale dealer in paper, having a store on the corner of Fifth and Commerce streets, in Philadelphia, Pa. He was in business there ten years, until 1856, when
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he disposed of his interests in Philadelphia, and moved to Lewistown, Pennsylvania, where he established a retail grocery. His store was lo- cated on the corner of Market and Brown streets, on the site of the present building occupied by the Lewistown Trust Company. He con- tinued in successful business for about twelve years, until his death, his wife surviving him five years. They were both members of the Lutheran church. He was a Democrat, although never accepting public office. He was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and in all his deals maintained the strictest regard for fairness. He was held in high esteem by all, and left to posterity an unsullied name.
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